Gun Sellers Target New Law : Ban Assailed as Deadline for Buying Assault Rifles Passes
A few months ago, Jeff Hedrick was happy if he sold one Heckler & Koch semiautomatic assault rifle every week or two at his Bullseye Sports gun shop in Brea.
On Wednesday, he sold five of the weapons--at prices twice as high as he used to charge.
“They’ve gone up because the . . . politicians are taking our guns away,†Hedrick said. “I don’t know what we’ll do now--maybe go into earthquake-preparedness stuff.â€
Other gun shop owners in Orange County voiced similar sentiments Wednesday, the last day that customers could buy military-style assault rifles and keep them without a difficult-to-obtain permit from the state Department of Justice.
Gov. George Deukmejian last week signed legislation that will make it illegal to import, manufacture, distribute, sell, lend or give away about 60 types of semiautomatic firearms when the law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
People who purchased the assault rifles before the deadline are required to register them with the Department of Justice under still-unspecified guidelines by Jan. 1, 1991, or face a $350 to $500 fine. The simple possession of an illegally obtained gun will be a misdemeanor or a felony at the discretion of a judge.
“The government’s just created a new class of criminal,†said an irate Brett Elzea, who along with his brother owns Stanley’s Gun Room in Santa Ana. The shop sold “two or three†assault rifles Wednesday, and Elzea said he would either sell his leftover stock out of state or hang on to the guns in the hope that the law will be struck down in court.
“The law-abiding, gun-owning citizens are the best people we have out there. They’re the most pro-American, the most anti-Communist,†Elzea declared. “This is the first step towards getting guns away from the populace.â€
Elzea, a National Rifle Assn. lifetime member, says that instead of forbidding him from selling certain types of weapons, the Legislature should be passing laws to make sure that criminals are locked up instead of being allowed to plea-bargain their way out of long prison sentences.
“The revolving-door system of justice doesn’t work,†he said.
The statewide drive to ban the weapons, which can be illegally converted to fire fully automatic, began after the Jan. 17 slaying of five children and the wounding of more than 30 others on a Stockton schoolyard. Patrick Edward Purdy, a drifter with a long record of misdemeanor offenses, fired 105 shots from a Chinese-made, AK-47 rifle.
While gun enthusiasts weren’t exactly lining up to buy the expensive weapons Wednesday, business was reported brisk at several shops throughout Southern California.
“We were very busy on Thursday and Friday last week, and we are very busy today,†said Mike Lum, vice president of Chino-based Turner’s Outdoorsman, which has two stores in Orange County. “Over a year ago at this time, we are probably up four- or five-fold.â€
Ken Smith, a salesman at Warner’s Gun Shop in Fullerton, said two AK-47s were sold Wednesday for about $800 each--almost double what they would have cost last year.
“The price is inflated because we’ve got a bunch of Communist leaders . . . who don’t support the Constitution,†Smith said.
Cliff’s Gunsmithing in Santa Ana also sold two $850 AK-47s, shop owner Cliff Lapiers said.
“We’ve only got about 20 left . . . we had over 100,†said Lapiers, who plans to either sell his leftover stock out of state or keep some guns for his own collection. Other shop owners adopted the same strategy as Brett Elzea, saying that they would hang on to the weapons to see if the law is overturned in court.
Lapiers and other gun shop owners complained that state and federal officials have been slow in providing them with guidelines on exactly how the new law will be implemented and what their responsibilities will be.
“The state’s made no effort to tell us what the law is,†Lapiers said.
Some customers, meanwhile, were having a hard time Wednesday finding the weapons at what they considered a reasonable price.
“I’m looking for an AR-15,†said David Minnick, 32, of Midway City, hopping off his motorcycle in front of the Stockade in Westminster. An Army veteran, Minnick said he had used the rifle--the civilian version of the military’s M-16--while he was in the service and wanted to add one to his collection of four pistols and two shotguns.
“If I can find one for the right price . . . about $800,†Minnick said. “But that’s a dream.â€
A Stockade salesman said the store had one of the guns left. Its price: $2,000.
“It’s brand new,†the salesman noted.
Times staff writer John Kendall in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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